A 20-year-old Palm Coast woman is accused of burying her deceased newborn child shortly after giving birth, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday. Anne Mae Demegillo is said to have buried the newborn in her backyard within a day of giving birth.
The FCSO announced the grisly incident on Friday. They received a wellness check call to Demegillo’s residence on Florida Park Drive at around 4:00 a.m. Friday morning. The caller reported Demegillo sent her messages about an unexpected birth, and that she’d done something to the baby shortly thereafter.
Interviewing the Mother
Deputies responded to Demegillo’s residence and spoke with her. The FCSO says she informed them that she began to experience abdominal pain on Thursday at around 3:00 a.m. She went to the toilet and gave birth, having not realized before then that she was even pregnant. Demegillo reportedly told deputies she believed the child was already dead immediately after birth.
The caller of the wellness check had received messages from Demegillo claiming the newborn was alive and crying, the FCSO says. After the birth, Demegillo says she put what she believed to be the infant’s body in a duffel bag in a closet. She attended a theater performance in New Smyrna Beach that day, and then returned home.
Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child
The FCSO says that upon returning home, Demegillo buried the infant in her backyard. From the birth to the burial, she did not contact law enforcement or other emergency services for help. An investigation was launched by the FCSO Major Case Unit and Crime Scene Investigation.
The investigation revealed that, according to detectives, Demegillo let the infant drown in toilet water after giving birth. They described her course of action as being done ‘knowingly and purposefully’. As such, she is being charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Legally Surrendering Children
Even when a mother is truly and wholly unable to provide care for an unintended birth, Florida law provides recourse to ensure the child’s safety. The ‘Safe Haven Law’ allows a parent to surrender their newborn to a fire station, hospital, or law enforcement agency safely and legally.
Palm Coast has a specific location to drop off infants. Fire Station 25 has a climate-controlled box where infants can be placed by parents. The process can be done fully anonymously; parents are allowed to leave the child and go without directly speaking to another person.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy for our community, for the family involved, and an emotionally difficult case for our team,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly in a prepared statement. “I want to remind our community, especially our expectant mothers: Florida law allows you to bring a child at birth to a local fire station, hospital or law enforcement agency and surrender the child. That is a much better solution than what we are investigating today—for everyone involved, but most importantly the infant who was prevented from the life they deserve. May God bless this infant and hold and comfort the baby in his loving hands with the love the baby never received on earth.”
Chris Gollon is a Flagler County resident since 2004, as well as a staple of the local independent music scene and avid observer of Central Florida politics, arts, and recreation.
